Silence: Daring To Criticize Theta Healing

This may run into more than one post, but I want to talk to you about a practice that claims to be able to change the very reality we live in, cure all diseases, and to be the ‘practical application of quantum mechanics’. This phenomenon, known as Theta Healing, is the product of Vianna Stibal, a woman who has made a living out of the suffering of others in a scheme that wants money to train you, and money to cure your ills, without anything like evidence on its side. What Theta Healing lacks in evidence however, it makes up for in money, and as such, staunch critic of the practice and former daughter-in-law of Vianna Stibal, Lindsey Stock, was sued into silence.

First, a little background on the story behind the claims. In the link below is a video where Stibal herself tells the story of her willing the universe to rid herself of leg cancer, of which she is cured, supposedly by the universe because she asked nicely. She then goes on to claim that there is no illness or affliction without reason and that sickness is caused by ‘too much hate’. In the same vein as ‘The Secret’, this is an insult to every good person who has come down with debilitating diseases, cancers, depression, anyone who has ever been poor, or lonely and anyone who has had their life made miserable by other people, because, according to this philosophy, it’s your fault.

The mechanism given for this is a bastardization of jargon used in quantum mechanics used to mean very different things; language that preys on people’s misunderstandings about the very small to confuse them into emptying their wallets, even when they’re at their most vulnerable.

As is blatantly visible from their ‘institute’s’ FAQ page, they encourage multiple sessions, for a treatment that’s supposed to be a function of willingness and indeed, by making people pay to be trained in these vacuous methods, the money pours in again.

And what are they doing to cure the sick, the poor, the lonely? Why, they’re activating all the strands in their DNA to create ‘phantom DNA’ that lets them elevate to the seventh plane of consciousness and speak directly to the creator, who will then allow them to change reality.

The practices have come under scrutiny greatly over here in the UK, with Edzard Ernst telling the BBC that the practice is ‘criminal’ and ‘not supported by evidence’, and BBC’s investigative journalism program, Newsnight, also did a show on the topic where they examined the extent of the practice and its victims. It’s not all bad news for them over here though, Vianna Stibal had a talk at the London School of Economics a couple of years ago, during the midst of this and claimed to have been able to grow someone’s leg back, which you would think would make people see the light, but not really; next year she’s going to India to spread her monopolization of the victims of the world.

Normally that much would be enough to warrant a blog post, but there used to be a blog dedicated to ‘Theta Healing: The Fraud’ that worked as a great resource for counterpoints to the claims of Stibal and her followers, one that was run by Lindsey Stock, who faced waves of criticism from people claiming that she was ‘just bitter’, but who nonetheless soldiered on, providing a much needed light in the darkness that the spreading influence of Stibal’s cult was beginning to resemble.

She was once Vianna Stibal’s daughter in law, and so she knew the woman behind this audacious enterprise more than most other critics, and after a struggle against the backlash, she was eventually brought down by lawsuits, when the law should have been on her side, so obvious it is that Stibal’s Theta Healing is fraudulent, is unscientific, is dangerous. But no, now the blog is down and Lindsey has been silenced.

There are people trying to carry on in her spirit, but that does not change the fact that what has been done is bullying. An organisation with plenty of money, taking advantage of the most vulnerable people in our society, had the law on its side, and used it to silence its honest critics.

I for one, am going to keep talking about Theta Healing, I’m going to keep condemning it and encouraging other people to spread the word, to tell the ironically named THiNK that they will be criticized, that silencing one of us only makes the rest of us louder, and to remind the public that what they’re doing is not only wrong, but dangerous.

Cat Strickson

Cat, or Elly, or Eddy, or whatever name they're going by these days, is a British palaeontologist and fantasy author. It's a pretty awesome skill set, but it doesn't pay much right now. They enjoy science, history, vidyagames and all things SFF.